Attacks of COVID-19 are known to increase the long-term risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. But even full or partial vaccination appears to reduce the risk, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Led by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, New York, the study utilized the medical records of more than 1.9 million patients infected with COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2022. . Heart attack, stroke, or another cardiac event was confirmed in 13,948 patients, and 3,175 died after the event.
Overall, the researchers found that receiving vaccination (full or partial) was associated with fewer cardiac events within 6 months of a COVID-19 case. After adjusting for demographics, comorbidities, and time since the start of the pandemic, the researchers found that the risk of major cardiac events was reduced by approximately 41% in those who were fully vaccinated, compared to those who were partially vaccinated. found that the risk was reduced by about 24% when
If a major cardiac event occurred, the median event was 17 days after the onset of COVID-19 infection and 212 days (approximately 7 months) after the last vaccination. Overall, regardless of vaccination status, those at highest risk of cardiac events after infection were male, older, and had other underlying medical conditions. Previous cardiac events increased risk the most, but diabetes, liver disease, obesity, and high cholesterol were also important risk factors.
This study has some limitations. That is, we could not explain the difference between reinfection and infection with different SARS-CoV-2 variants. However, its findings support those of previous reports, including a similar study conducted using the South Korean medical database. We also add some new data to the literature by including partially vaccinated patients. This will be defined as patients who have received no more than one 2-dose mRNA vaccine series at the time of infection or who have been within a window of 14 days after 1 J&J shot.
In a statement, lead author of the study, Joy Zhang, noted that the researchers were surprised that even partial vaccination reduced the risk of a major cardiac event. 2 Given the scale of the infection, we hope our findings will help improve vaccination coverage, especially for individuals with comorbidities,” she added.
